Paul & Buzz’s Painting

My Painting Needs Bees

This is a painting on canvas, not a mural. But it is a part of the story that I will cherish my whole life. The project was originally a top-secret commission by Dr. Paul Rogers in Asheville, NC. The mission: create a landscape painting of the Blue Ridge mountains for his husband Buzz’s birthday. All was going swimmingly until the final viewing when Dr. Paul and I got into a conversation about The Good of the Hive. Prior to that conversation, he did not know I was working with bees. After I told him what I was doing, he paused and said, “I want bees in my painting.” I replied that the painting was basically done. He responded and said, “Well, apparently it is not done because it doesn’t have bees in it yet. My house is on the house tour of Asheville this year and I am going to display the piece and tell everyone that walks in to go to your website.” And so The Good of the Hive had been supported again in a way that was not yet totally public but was heading that way with the temporary public display.